Matt Trueman – Guardian, 04/24/2012
The story of Christ's trial, crucifixion and death is performed during Easter across Brazil each year. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
A Brazilian actor has died after accidentally hanging himself during a Passion play last month.
Tiago Klimeck, 27, was playing the role of Judas in a local theatre company’s production of The Passion of the Christ in Itararé, a city just west of São Paolo. Enacting the disciple’s suicide following his betrayal of Jesus, as portrayed in the gospel of Matthew, the actor experienced complications and was left hanging for four minutes before other cast members realised anything was wrong. By the time he was taken down, Klimeck was unconscious.
He died last Sunday, having been in a medically induced coma since the performance on Good Friday (6 April). On his arrival at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia hospital in the nearby city of Itapeva, scans diagnosed cerebral hypoxia, extensive brain damage caused by prolonged lack of oxygen.
